Uganda: Uganda’s President Mr. Yoweri Museveni, has asked lawmakers to clarify that merely identifying as gay is not a criminal offence under a proposed anti-homosexuality law. This move comes in response to international condemnation of the proposed legislation, which is one of the world’s harshest anti-LGBTQ laws. The bill criminalises a broad range of homosexual activities and carries stiff penalties, including death for aggravated homosexuality.

In March 2022, legislators in Uganda overwhelmingly passed the bill, which has been widely criticized by human rights defenders, Western governments, and corporations. In a letter to the parliament’s speaker, Mr. Museveni outlined his reasons for returning the bill and what changes he wanted.

Mr. Thomas Tayebwa, parliament’s deputy speaker, read to legislators a letter Mr. Museveni had written to the parliament’s speaker in which he outlined his reasons for returning the bill and what changes he wanted.

“The proposed law should be clear so that what is thought to be criminalised is not the state of one having a deviant proclivity but rather the actions of one acting on that deviancy. The bill should be reviewed and include a provision that clearly states that a person who is believed, alleged, or suspected of being a homosexual who has not committed a sexual act with another person of the same sex does not commit an offence,” Mr. Museveni wrote in the letter.

The President further asked legislators to remove provisions that impose a duty on citizens to report acts of homosexuality because it would create “constitutional challenges” and also be a source of conflict in society.

Mr. Tayebwa referred the bill back to parliament’s legal affairs committee, which will process it and return it to the full House for more debate and passage. Once it is passed again by the full House, it will be returned to the president for approval.

Homosexuality is already illegal in the East African country under a colonial-era law criminalising sex acts “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offence is life imprisonment.

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